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Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Christmas at the Castle Originally published in The Chief Vol. 131 Dec. 9, 2022
Also available every week at: thechronicleonline. com and at thechiefnews.com
SUBMITTED BY DEBORAH HAZEN
Christmas at the Castle open houses are set for Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 17 and 18, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the newly-restored Flippin Castle, home to the Clatskanie Senior Citizens and the Clatskanie Historical Society. The public is invited to visit and tour the 1900era Victorian mansion, a National Historic Preservation Site, which includes the local history museum. The Castle is beautifully decorated for the holidays. Santa Claus will be in attendance from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on both open house days to hear Christmas wishes. Parents are urged to bring their cameras. There is no charge for admission for the Dec. 1718 open houses, but donations are appreciated. The Castle is located at 620 SW Tichenor Street in Clatskanie. Additional parking is available in back of the Castle off of SW Bryant Street.
CLATSKANIE • CLATSKANIE SAFEWAY • HI SCHOOL PHARMACY IN CLATSKANIE • CLATSKANIE MARKET SCAPPOOSE • ROAD RUNNER GAS & GROCERY • JACKPOT 76 • ENGSTROM CHEVRON • B&B MARKET • FRED MEYER • SMOKE SHOP • NELSON NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET • ACE • GROCERY OUTLET
Admission is free for the Dec. 17-18 open houses. Donations are appreciated.
Courtesy from Deborah Hazen
Community comes together to help unattended teens Originally published in The Chronicle Vol. 140 Dec. 7, 2022 WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
T
he holidays are a time for giving and also a time to give back to the community. This year, the Kiwanis Daybreakers are reigniting their Teen Support Program to aid ‘unassisted’ teens in the St. Helens School District. Since 2015, Monica Cade and Kiwanis Daybreakers have teamed up with the school district and other partners in the community to help teens in need within the St. Helens area. Unattended teen is a term that refers to students who are not in the physical care and custody of a parent or guardian. Some of these students “couch surf,” and live with friends or families that can host them. Some live in tents. Others live in shelters within the district. Through the McKinnieVento Homelessness Act of 1987, resources are available to help underprivileged students in the St. Helens District. The program serves about 100 or so students in St. Helens a year. Some 21 students in St. Helens are what McKinnieVento refers to as unattended teens. To help these students, Monica Cade began an initiative around the holidays in 2015 that assists these kids in meeting basic needs year-round. “Daybreakers Kiwanis is committed to providing support whenever possible, to help these kids to help them graduate and just so they don’t have to struggle with their basic needs,” Cade said. “We like to send them positive messages; we want them to know that the community cares about them, and regardless of the circumstances that have led them to where they are in life, there are people that care.” Cade began the initiative in 2015 when she saw her son’s friends deal with the challenges of living through adolescence without a guardian. In the first year,
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From left to right, Linda Bolen, Jennifer Bartocci, Beth Paschall, Peggy Howell, Amy Trull and Monica Cade together at John L. Scott Realty in Scappoose to support the unattended teens project.
Cade had the idea of giving the teens “Fab-packs.” These were personal care items so the teens could help feel their best. The program has grown enough to provide items to teens before the long breaks from school in the winter, spring, and summer. Cade’s program acts as Santa around the holidays and is also involved with helping sponsor kids at prom and graduation as well. The donations that are collected now are helpful year-round. “Just because your family has dire circumstances, you should still get to participate in some of these wonderful events that we all remember,” Cade said. While unaccompanied teens can get support from the Community Action Team and the district for housing, Cade and the Daybreakers are trying to meet the other needs the students may have. Through donations from the community, Cade and organizations in the St. Helens area provide a variety of items the teens have requested. This year, kids have requested items as essential as toothbrushes, pencils, toilet paper, bedding, and deodor-
ant. Some students need gas cards to fill their tanks if they have a car. They also provide students with food bags that offer the teens easy-to-make food. Through COVID, the program has begun to provide more gift card-based “Fun-packs” so teens can shop for themselves.
It really touches my heart and amazes me, year after year, the support out there in the community. ~ Monica Cade
After collecting the donations, Cade and the Daybreakers work with the school district directly to deliver the donations anonymously. As minors, the confidentiality of teens is of the utmost importance. Ensuring anonymity helps the teens exist in the community without bearing the burden of people knowing their situations. Jennifer Bartocci, the
McKinnie-Vento Liaison, Foster Care Point of Contact, and the Federal Programs Secretary, acts as the primary go-between for volunteers, the school district, and teens. “I often have students that are attending school regularly, doing well academically, participating in activities, and holding down a job,” Bartocci said. “And doing all of this on their own. It’s incredible.” Bartocci is passionate about not only providing essentials so the students can get by now but also so they can also thrive after graduation. Bartocci says she remains in contact with many teens even after they graduate and no longer have access to some federal resources. “I have never met more resilient, strong, capable humans than these teenagers,” Bartocci said. “Every single one of them has the capacity to make choices; for a lot of their life, they didn’t get to make decisions for what they wanted in life. And being able to talk about their choices and their goals has to be the best part.” Some of the organizations in the community
that assist are John L. Scott Realty, Christ Episcopal Church, First Lutheran, St. Helens Kiwanis, Columbia Food Bank, and Wauna Credit Union. John L. Scott allows Cade to use the facility to assemble food bags and wrap gifts. There are giving trees at First Lutheran, Christ Episcopal, St. Frederic Church, and Wauna Credit Union. John L. Scott in Scappoose and St. Helens are also collecting donations. To reach Monica Cade to make a donation or find out how to help, email her at: monicacade@msn. com. It’s a community effort to help these teens, and Cade wants to make sure that the teens understand they are cared for. “It really touches my heart and amazes me, year after year, the support out there in the community. And how many people really care about these kids,” Cade said. “And I really hope that that feeling is conveyed to those youth, that there are people that really care about them, about their success, and to help them achieve greatness in life.”
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